The most emotional amp out there?


OK gang, I need your votes for the amp you feel that brings the chills, the goosebumps, yes maybe even a teardrop or two when you sit down and listen to your particular music of choice. Although many responders will automatically think of tubes, I do not necessarily share that "prejudice". I'm trying to find that special amp to mate with my Virgo IIs that really takes me to the heart of the music...as opposed to just performing the requisite audiophile tricks (e.g. imaging, soundstage depth, etc.). I'm tired of appreciating the specific virtues of a well known amplifier that I am auditioning but never really being transported to a place where I forget about the gear and simply am enthralled with the music.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy the audiophile thing as much as the next person. But I am searching for the amplifier that will transcend the need to go through the checklist of listening attributes a reviewer does and instead will simply allow me to sit back and just be enveloped by the message that the particular recording artist I am listening to is trying to communicate.

I hope I'm being somewhat inteligible here and thanks for your suggestions.

Gregg
reneaugroup309c
I agree with Tripper. Since when did a pile of glass, silicon and wire get a soul. There ain't no ghost in that machine!
I had some of those emotional amps but I had to get rid of them. The tear stains on the front of the amps were just too distracting.

Tripper is right on. Get some music that really turns you on.

The sound you get from your system is all about synergy in your selected components and how they integrate with your room. There is no quick certain fix - its just a lot of work and it takes a lot of experimenting.

How do you know that what you want can be found in the amp - it might just be your sources or preamp, or your set up, or your room, that is the problem? Or maybe your Virgo's, god forbid. Even worse, maybe your expectations are just plain unrealistic. Have you EVER heard what you expect from any system anywhere?
I would put my 2 cents for a Berning, or a vintage McIntosh Mc225.

I am finding my cheapy Fisher 400C to be a beautiful music maker.
Why is it that the erudite always need re-clarification? Or did I just answer my own question?

It should go without saying that we are conversing in a forum with an emphasis geared almost solely toward hardware.

If that is true, then it should also go without saying that not only does the hardware influence the software, but the software is rendered completely lifeless without the hardware.

If I’ve misread some of your postings, then please share your ‘emotional’ experiences you encounter listening to your software on your am/fm/cd clock radio and/or phonograph and compare those experiences to other systems.

And while you’re at it, why not also explain why you spend so much time posting on a hardware-oriented web site like Agon?

For the record, I never talk about my experiences as being ‘emotional’, but I freely mention the significant impact that hardware often times has on the software.

-IMO
McIntosh MC 2000!
I disagree with Tripper: the emotion is NOT within the disc but within the music. But if you rely on recorded music (at all) there is gear able to transport this emotion. The above mentioned McIntosh surely is one of the strongest horses in that field.